Ms. Harrity shared the magnitude of decisions she was confronted with in leading the Museum following the death of its long-term CEO.  She advised non-profit colleagues to “never waste a crisis”, illustrating how the “perfect storm” of governance and financial issues she faced actually provided a window to re-evaluate the Museum’s mission and identity and reaffirm its competitive position.

She noted non-profits “must have more than one string in their bow” financially and focus on entrepreneurial thinking.  She shared how museums have gone from relying on an “endowment income” to an emphasis on “revenue diversification” ranging from grants to gifts to capital campaigns to corporate partnering to selling and sharing services to merchandising strategies aimed at generating retail sales rather than simply membership programs. 

Professor McFarlan and Ms. Harrity also noted the importance of shifting from a “single voice to a multiple voice” in engaging the community at-large which leads to creating new content, capacities and collaborations in program reach and scope.

 “Money, metrics and motivating people” are key governance issues in the social enterprise arena, according to non-profits attending the Social Enterprise Conference.  Cultivating and retaining board and staff financial leadership is a key talent challenge.  “Non-profit boards have a complicated equation to solve,” shared Professor McFarlan, “from having unstable sources of funding, burned out staffs trying to keep up with it all, to missions that don’t align with financial priorities and expected outcomes. As the nonprofit sector continues to feel the impact of our turbulent economy, it is critical that organizations be able to rely on their boards and key executives for leadership, stability and engagement”, added McFarlan. “The mission of non-profits in these harsh economic times and thinking boldly about strategy is more important than ever”, he concluded.

In addition to HBSCP and alumni funding, partnership support of the conference came from leading corporations and foundations based in the region, including the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Comcast, Liberty Property Trust, The Philadelphia Foundation, TL Ventures, The William Penn Foundation, SEI Investments, Levenger,  Penn State Great Valley and an investment management firm that wishes to remain anonymous.

The Harvard Business School Club of Philadelphia Social Enterprise Initiative began in 1993. The Social Enterprise Initiative focuses on executive education – finance, operations, marketing and strategy – of the Philadelphia Region’s nonprofit leaders. In 2001, the HBSCP began sponsoring and sending nonprofit CEOs to the Harvard Business School’s one-week nonprofit management course. 16 local leaders have now attended the course. The success of this program led to the annual locally based conference focused on nonprofit leadership development. Warren Tranquada, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, served as Chairman of the HBS Philly Social Enterprise Conference in 2009 with help from more than 20 HBS alumni volunteers.  Watch this space for information about next year’s SEI!